Still the swingingest thing: West Side Story’s George Chakiris
A lot of ladies — and quite a few gents including American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Marcelo Gomes and the just-retired Jose Manuel Carreno — gawked as West Side Story star George Chakiris entered the Founder’s Room of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles Music Center. It was the opening night reception following ...
She’s a rainbow, strums Gary Lucas at the Grammy Museum
Jul
26
2011
The instant Gary Lucas put his hand to his acoustic guitar and blasted into “She’s a Rainbow,” I took off into the stratosphere. A one-way ticket to pleasure-ville. I had forgotten this great Rolling Stones anthem — a love paean by Jagger/Richards dedicated to their flower-child cohorts. She comes in colours. The globe-trotting musician played ...
“Je ne suis pas contente de tout,” says Claude Bessy. 1
The film I loved most of the four I saw at the Dance Camera West festival in June was Fabrice Herrault’s beautifully constructed documentary about his former ballet instructor, Claude Bessy, Les lignes d’une Vie (Traces of a Life). Herrault, a dance professor at the Juilliard School and a respected private coach, has made one ...
Dance photog Christopher Duggan shoots Lar Lubovitch Dance Company 1
New York-based dance photographer Christopher Duggan snapped these amazing rehearsal photos of Lar Lubovitch Dance Company performing this weekend at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Lar Luvovitch Dance Company first performed at the Pillow in 1971, and since then five more times, including the troupe’s fortieth anniversary celebration in the Ted Shawn Theater. photo credit: Christopher ...
Debbie Reynolds, costume connoisseur
Photographer/writer Iris Schneider contributes this to arts·meme: “Isn’t there some millionaire out there who can save all this?” The question hung in the air as hundreds of ordinary people, film buffs with their kids, designers and lookie-loos lined up to ogle the astounding array of costumes and props collected over the years by Debbie Reynolds ...
LACMA’s last picture show: Ozu’s “Late Autumn” on July 30 2
Jul
21
2011
There are still several wonderful films between now and then, but for your calendar’s purposes, one date stands out. The final screening of LACMA’s weekend classic film program, begun 41 years ago and overseen by Ian Birnie for the last 15, features Yasujiro Ozu’s “Late Autumn” (1962). That’s on Saturday, July 30, 2011. In his ...
blue13’s “Into the Bollywoods” @ the Ford Amphitheatre this weekend
Jul
20
2011
We chatted recently with Anchinta S. McDaniel, the vivacious artistic director of blue13 dance company. The audience-pleasing Bollywood dance troupe presents the choreographer’s newest creation at the Ford Amphitheatre this weekend. Sure to be eye-popping, noisy, and fun, McDaniel’s Into The Bollywoods (with apologies to Sondheim, we’re certain) has its premiere on Friday night. It’s ...
Carmageddon & ABT’s communist caper-ballet 5
Despite best efforts, California authorities (the people who brought you Ronald “Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev!” Reagan) could not put the kibosh on American Ballet Theatre’s “The Bright Stream,” choreographed by their new in-house guy, Alexei Ratmansky. Clearly controlled by Soviet agents, ABT foisted a clever piece of communist propaganda on our sunny climes. ...
Wicked comedy by Lubitsch at LACMA 1
Jul
16
2011
It was pure pleasure, in the waning days of the LACMA weekend classic film series, as curator Ian Birnie trotted out yet another sublime film pairing, this time a comedy duo: the first film, Preston Sturges’ social commentary/classic, “Sullivan’s Travels,” topped by Ernst Lubitsch’s insane, zany, perfectly scripted, outrageous and brilliant “To Be or Not ...
A Paul Taylor premiere at ADF, always a joyous event
Jul
14
2011
**LATE BREAKING NEWS ** UPDATE ** LATE BREAKING NEWS ** UPDATE** The Paul Taylor Dance Company announced today that its upcoming 2011-12 three-week New York season will be held at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center from March 13 – April 1, 2012. “I am looking forward to seeing my amazing dancers perform ...